The effects of British colonization are felt all throughout the world. Over the past few years, several studies have examined the potential impact of colonization on deeply ingrained developmental pathways. The colonial endeavours had a profound and important influence on society during the previous fifty years. The authors Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (2001, 2002), whose work on cross-national as well as numerical studies greatly influences, divide colonialism into two broad categories, such as settlement and extractive.

In areas with relatively healthy populations and smaller native populations, the settlement colonies were established. Conversely, to obtain resources, extractive colonies were founded by displacing or destroying indigenous populations.

Enduring Colonial Legacies in State-Building and Governance

Most of the population in the case of British colonialism is notably non-European. For the different timespan, they ruled by indirect as well as direct lawful administrative organizations (Olsson, 2009). Their relationship-measuring elements include bureaucratic efficacy, legal regulations, political stability, the strain of state management, democratization, and the absence of governmental corruption. Direct and indirect rule both are essential to the legacy of British colonialism. A governing structure based on official regulations rather than personal judgments was provided by direct rule.

Olson argues that the first three quarters of the 18th century are devoted to the constituents and their laws that dealt with the emergence of colonial assemblies. Additionally, it provides information about the republican roots of American politics (Acemoglu, Johnson, & Robinson, 2001). Its official controlling chain linked different states to the central colonial authority, and it also had a unified legal-governmental organization. Chiefs were given enormous organizational authority under indirect rule, enabling them to enforce “customary law.” This law could be readily shaped and manipulated for personal gain because it lacks validity. Additionally, this statute allowed the chiefdom police to operate on public lands and oversee the local indigenous population.

Key Emphasis

Lord Lugard deserves the credit for this rule. To enlarge colonies and subjugate their indigenous populations, all British and Great British empires relied on both direct and indirect regulations. According to a statistical analysis, the 33 former British colonies had over a million indigenous when they were free, had not experienced the massive European settlement, had not merged with other non-British provinces after independence, and had endured more than 30 years of British colonial control.

Since British influence is still felt in these provinces, this has an impact on the political landscape of these former British colonies. Their colonial effects contributed to the social reestablishment by ending slavery, increasing caring for the poor, and starting the drive for women’s suffrage. To raise awareness, they brought the concepts of equality, liberty, human rights, and women’s liberation to every conquered province.

Cultural Assimilation and Resistance Under Colonialism

The British colonized the country, bringing with it their own laws, religious beliefs, and cultural values that do not favour indigenous peoples. For this reason, indigenous peoples in Britain are more reliant on British colonization (Lange, 2004). People of other religions are mostly affected by their practices, which will lead to their conversion to Christianity. Extensions of colonial state activity can also be seen in education and the media.

Diverse Modes of British Colonial Governance

In addition to statistical information about colonial legacies, Lange’s 2004 research is descriptive. The study examines several case studies pertaining to colonial rule, both direct and indirect, and the evolution of post-colonial politics. The validity of the descriptive analysis has been established by providing statistical data on 33 former British colonies based on their governance rights and their impact. In contrast, Ola’s 2009 study is a descriptive work that includes both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The legacy of colonialism on democracy is examined in this paper. The research proposes that the diverse colonial period can be divided into early mercantilist and later imperialist waves based on 143 findings. According to the observations, the colonies’ democracy is significantly impacted by British colonial control.

Data Interpretation

Third-world nations made up most of the provinces that were British colonies. The influence of the British helped to change the extremely poor societies’ cultures in these countries. The colonies were also impacted in different ways by their colonial control style, which was separated into two categories: direct and indirect rules. To govern their colonies, the British used both direct and indirect rules. For example, India and Bangladesh were subject to direct authority, while Nigeria and Uganda were subject to indirect rule. To extend their colonies on the African continent, the British were forced to enforce an extraction strategy due to the fervour for “white people” in the African countries.

Case Study: Democratic Practices in a Colonial Context

The colonizer’s national identity, population density, geography, and disease are all influenced by the colonies’ democracy, which in turn can have an impact on colonial policies. In the beginning, most European nations were largely conceited, but they eventually developed a more tolerant outlook. The two waves of colonialism are known as imperialist and mercantilist. While the imperialist wave typically follows the mercantilist wave, which seeks the newest markets and resources in the weaker nations, the mercantilist wave boosts the nation’s riches and power with regulated trade practices in the colonies. Rivalries between the major colonial powers are sparked by this wave.

Conceptual Precision

According to numerical data on 33 colonies published in a journal devoted to colonial heritage, the former British colonies did not merge with the non-British colonies following their independence (Lange, 2004). This happened because, in contrast to non-British colonies, the former British colonies had already been impacted by British culture and perception, particularly those that had been under British administration for more than 30 years.

Most European nations have begun to colonize other nations through extraction or settlement throughout the last fifty years. Because the British held total authority over the provinces, the 33 colonies that were part of the British Empire did not experience this level of settlement. The books described the expansion of the long-term course of the constitutional evolution of British colonialism and the former colonies that the World Bank considers to be nations. These books provided a brief overview of colonialism, democracy, the legacy of British colonial power, and the “colonial determinants of democracy.” Additionally, a statistical result based on 33 former British territories is explained. [Appendix 2: New colony creation time distribution among 143 former colonies]

According to the figure, the empirical approach for examining different determinants, including colonial and democratic determinants, that oversee the positive or negative correlations between the length of the colonies and the recent democratic levels was explained by the democratic legacy of the colonies. In comparison to non-British colonies, where it was challenging to combine various cultural traditions within a single province, the former British colonies’ cultures were also significantly enhanced. The importance politics and constitutional development used by colonial councillors and governors to gauge meaning are the sources of Olson’s thesis. As a result, it may be said that assemblies in England are more interested in voting on the annual wages of governors. In addition, the governor’s letter home emphasizes the need of holding assemblies to address local problems.

Impact of Extraneous Variables

The results of the post-colonial regulations on the different colonies are described in the Lange (2004) report, but the causes of the results are not mentioned. Information regarding the effectiveness of British rule activities is lacking, including how the populace responded to the direct and indirect colonization rules, whether they were happy with the laws that were imposed on them, and the social and economic development of the colonies during the colonial era. Due to the disruptions in colonization rule caused by the hostilities between multiple powerful nations, the colonies throughout the imperialist era had a prolonged period of lower levels of democracy.

Benefits and Drawbacks

This strength lies in determining how British colonialism affected the state’s institutions and reinforcing key paths for national political development. In 1990, it helped establish a high correlation with other variables of state governance norms by measuring the extent of 33 previous colonial regulations for British colonies (Acemoglu, Johnson, & Robinson, 2002). The degree of both direct and indirect colonial rule implementation determines the positive feedback effect of British colonialism on British political legacies. To provide universal interference into other religious classes of British country, weakness must be combined with limits of not having experienced European settlement for more than thirty years (Olsson, 2009). As a result, colonization restricts the British state’s capacity to further regulate social relationships and avoid facing up to their corporate obligations.

Conclusion

Societies are greatly impacted by the British colonization heritage. The results of British colonial control were shown by several statistical investigations. The British colonies in Africa were mostly impacted by their indirect rule. Both the integration of those states and the state governmental and bureaucratic capabilities of those colonies are adversely affected by this law. Native Americans’ democratic rights were impacted by British police forces in several ways.

The cultural traditions of the colonized nations were significantly impacted by the blending of Eastern and Western cultures. During this time, a variety of improvisations took place. It can be assumed that the British colonies had a positive impact on their colonies and their democracies, which helped those colonies to develop and improve, even though there was a lack of information about the effects of British law enforcement or the changes in cultural practices among the colonies.

References

  • Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., & Robinson, J. A. (2001). The colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation. American economic review, 91(5), 1369-1401. Retrieved from: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w7771/w7771.pdf [Retrieved on: 26.12.2022]
  • Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., & Robinson, J. A. (2002). Reversal of fortune: Geography and institutions in the making of the modern world income distribution. The Quarterly journal of economics, 117(4), 1231-1294. Retrieved from: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w8460/w8460.pdf [Retrieved on: 26.12.2022]
  • Lange, M. K. (2004). British colonial legacies and political development. World development, 32(6), 905-922. Retrieved from: https://www.almendron.com/tribuna/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/british-colonial-legacies-and-political.pdf [Retrieved on: 26.12.2022]
  • Olsson, O. (2009). On the democratic legacy of colonialism. Journal of Comparative Economics, 37(4), 534-551. Retrieved from: https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2009.08.004 [Retrieved on: 26.12.2022]